The great Grete

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Die Tolle Grete (Pieter Bruegel the Elder)
The great Grete
Pieter Bruegel the Elder , around 1562
oil on wood
117 × 162 cm
Museum Mayer van den Bergh , Antwerp

The oil painting called Die Tolle Grete or De Dulle Griet by Pieter Bruegel the Elder shows a gigantic woman walking through an infernal chaos in armor and helmet . It was created around 1562 and is now in the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp.

description

The picture, a wooden panel about 162 centimeters wide and 117 centimeters high, is almost exclusively in black as well as red, yellow and brown tones. The central and eponymous figure is an old, toothless, striding female figure with a determined gaze, which is arranged in the foreground slightly to the left of the center of the picture. She wears breast armor and a helmet over her peasant clothes. In her right hand she holds a bare sword, under her left arm a chest as well as baskets and bags filled with goblets, plates, rings, a pan and a jug, among other things. You are followed by a horde of smaller women who, also armed but without armor, beat up a multitude of different mythical creatures. Part of the group storms a dilapidated house with a larger than life figure sitting on the roof ridge with a boat on his back, who is making money out of his ass.

The surrounding landscape is filled with various demons, some of which are armed to wreak havoc. Most of the buildings have fallen into disrepair, on the left edge of the picture a fortress merges into a huge, grimaceous face, from whose open mouth more monsters emerge. The sky is dark red on the horizon, especially in the right half of the picture you can see burning cities.

The work shows remains of a signature , of which only an illegible year can be recognized. Close-up photographs reveal “MDLXII” ( Roman numerals for 1562), which corresponds to the chronological order of the picture.

Interpretations

The Tolle Grete is considered "one of the most enigmatic pictures of Pieter Bruegel". None of the range of different interpretations could prevail. The assumption is often made that the picture is based on a popular Flemish tale or a no longer known literary model.

In his Schilder-Boeck from 1604, Karel van Mander relates the painting to the saying “een roof voor de helle doen” (German, for example: 'to rob before hell'). This has been interpreted in part as a raid or recruitment for hell. Jan Grauls, on the other hand, explains the phrase as “doing a daring act in the hope of profit, not fearing the devil or hell, defying the danger or attacking a profitable company with the greatest boldness, regardless of all danger”. Accordingly, interpret René van Bastelaer and Georges Hulin de Loo the saying: "Do a raid from hell is obviously her brave." Dulle Griet is the popular nickname of the shrew , a mischievous and quarrelsome woman. Metaphorically, this name has also been given to various large artillery pieces, such as the Great Cannon of Ghent ; the English “ Mad Meg ” refers to guns in Londonderry and Edinburgh .

The misunderstanding that van Mander identified the clothes of Tollen Grete as "Scottish" is based on a mistranslation. In fact, the misunderstood word “schots” had the meanings “strange” and “foolish” in Middle Dutch.

Grauls read, partly based on Gotthard Jedlicka , further idioms from the picture: The armor is supposed to be an allusion to “terstont in 't harnas zijn” (German for example:' be in armor immediately ', that is: quick to flare up, angry be), the iron glove on "Iets met ijzeren handschoenen aangrijpen" ('attack something with iron gloves', i.e .: be violent), the figure on the roof ridge on "opscheppen met de grote lepel" ('scoop with the big spoon' , ie waste). He identifies the boat on the figure's back as the "blauwe schuit" , the blue boat, a symbol of extravagance. Roger Marijnis and Max Seidel note that the boat is not - or at least not anymore - blue.

Provenance

The painting is now in the Mayer van den Bergh Museum in Antwerp. Mayer van den Bergh bought it at an auction in Cologne in 1897 at a low price. It was previously owned by Emperor Rudolf II.

literature

  • Anna Pawlak: Trilogy of the Search for God. Pieter Bruegel the Elder Ä. "Fall of the Fallen Angels, Triumph of Death and Dulle Griet". Berlin 2011, pp. 143-184.
  • Roger Marijhaben , Max Seidel : Bruegel . Belser, Stuttgart 1969, p. 45 f., 152 f .

Web links

Commons : Dull Gret  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The great Grete. ( Memento from July 8, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) Image archive Preußischer Kulturbesitz
  2. ^ A b Marijhaben, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 45 .
  3. ^ A b Marijhaben, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 152 .
  4. ↑ for example in the French translations of Schilder-Boeck by Henri Hymans ( Le livre des paintres , Paris 1884) or Robert Genaille ( Le livre des painture , Paris 1965); see. Marijhaben, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 44, 45 .
  5. ↑ "Eent stout stuk do op hoop van winst, bang zijn voor duivel still hel en alle gevaar trotseren" and "met de uiterste stoutheid, onaangezien alle gevaar, om winst iets durven ondernemen." Jan Grauls: Volkstaal en Volksleven in het werk van Pieter Bruegel . Antwerp / Amsterdam 1957, p. 45, 69 . (Quoted in the original and the translation from Marijektiven, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 55 . )
  6. ↑ "  Faire une rafle devant la porte de l'enfer, c'est le évidemment brave.  » René van Bastelaer, Georges Hulin de Loo: Pieter Bruegel l'Ancien. son œvre et son temps . Brussels 1905. (quoted in the original and the translation from Marijnisse, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 55 . )
  7. ↑ René van Bastelaer, Georges Hulin de Loo: Pieter Bruegel l'Ancien. son œvre et son temps . Brussels 1905. (quoted from Marijnisse, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 55 . )
  8. ^ A b Marijhaben, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 55 .
  9. ^ Jan Grauls: Volkstaal en Volksleven in het werk van Pieter Bruegel . Antwerp / Amsterdam 1957, p. 42-67 . (Quoted in the original and the translation from Marijektiven, Seidel: Bruegel . 1969, p. 55 . )
  10. ↑ Mad Meg by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1561-62. Museum van den Bergh , accessed on September 29, 2011 (English).